


The Only Easy Day Was Yesterday

by I_have_a_Mycroft_of_my_very_own



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-22
Updated: 2015-04-22
Packaged: 2018-03-25 06:27:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,013
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3800278
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/I_have_a_Mycroft_of_my_very_own/pseuds/I_have_a_Mycroft_of_my_very_own
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It will be one of those times where he second guesses every decision he made until the moment his friend went down. It will be one of those times where he considers giving it all up. One of those times where he considers handing in his badge and going home to eat his gun. And, unless he does go home to do that, this probably won’t be the last time for that, either.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Only Easy Day Was Yesterday

**Author's Note:**

> Look, it is 2:30 in the morning, I have to be awake at 8. I don't know how this happened, but the team wouldn't let me sleep until I wrote this, so. This is set while Lou is investigating his old pal in Chicago. 
> 
> The only easy day was yesterday: Seal motto.  
> Semper Fi/Fidelis: Always Faithful. Marine Corps motto.  
> Semper Fortis: Always Brave. Unofficial Navy Motto.  
> Sempter Paratus: Always Ready: Coastguard Motto. 
> 
> I feel like Danny would know all of them, but pretend he doesn't know which belongs to which, even though he does...

This isn’t the first time he’s watched friends fall in the line of duty. Of course it isn’t, he’s been serving his country too long for that. Hell, this probably won’t even be the last time. But it will be one of those times that sticks with him. It will be one of those times where he second guesses every decision he made until the moment his friend went down. It will be one of those times where he considers giving it all up. One of those times where he considers handing in his badge and going home to eat his gun. And, unless he does go home to do that, this probably won’t be the last time for that, either.

That old cliché of time slowing down, and he wishes it is useful to him in some way. Wishes it means he can run forward and stop the bullets from hitting. Wishes it means he can run forward and dig those bullets out and seal up all the wounds. Wishes it means he can stop this all from happening. But it doesn’t mean any of that. It’s like his brain, in trying to be helpful, is just making things worse. Sound seems to have been swallowed up, warped, slowed down, distorted in ways he can never hope to explain, but it has nothing on his perception of time. His partner spends an eternity falling, and some part of him hopes his partner never hits the ground. But his partner does, hits the ground with a _thump_ that he not only hears, but _feels_ in his very bones as well. Sound returns, a tidal wave, he is nearly bowled over by the force of it. Time speeds up, feels like it is going at twice its normal speed, like it is trying to make up for what was lost in the slow motion. He can’t breathe, and he feels like his own body is betraying him for that. _He_ is not the one who has been shot. Why is it that he is the one who cannot breathe?

_“Steven. Breathe, you big idiot! I’m wearing a vest!”_

Air gushes from his lungs at the sound of his partner’s voice. And his heart aches with relief.

“Danny.” He breathes, his legs falling out beneath him.

“Are you going to react this way every time I go down?” Danny asks with a groan, lying on the floor behind their cover, digging the bullets from his vest. “You’re definitely playing decoy next time.”

“Danny.”

“Kono, Chin, you guys need to take care of this. I think we’ve lost Steve.”

“Gotcha, Other Boss.” Kono replies, the air ringing with the sound of her rifle going off. “Chin and I got this, brah.”

“Hey, Steve. Have you come back down to earth yet, babe?”

“Danny.”

“I’ll take that as a no… if you’re going to be a big worried baby, get over here and help me sit up.” Steve moves without even thinking about it. Keeping low and behind cover. He gets to Danny’s side and helps him up, Danny groans and his hand holds tight to Steve’s arm, fingers digging in.

“Danny.”

“Hey, I’m fine, Steve. My ribs are all ouchies, that’s all, babe.” He assures, loosening his hold.

“Clear, Danny.” Chin calls, before appearing behind their cover with them.

“Thanks Chin, Kono.” Danny murmurs, before grabbing Steve’s face in his hands and forcing the super seal to look at him. “Steven. I am fine. Please come back from wherever that scary brain of yours has taken you, okay? We’re all alright. I promise.” Steve stares into Danny’s eyes, before his own wonder up and down Danny’s body, cataloging everything. Finally satisfied, he breathes out slowly.

“Sorry, Danny. I guess I’m just a little bit…”

“Concerned? Worried? Anxious? Feel free to stop me at any time, bundle of nerves.”

“Yeah. Look, first you got stabbed, Danny. And then barely two weeks later, you’re stuck in some Colombian prison and I don’t know if I’m ever going to see your stupid face again. And now…”

“Whoa, whoa, uncalled for!” Danny exclaims, before sobering. “I’m fine, Steve, I promise.”

“Yeah, but one day you’re going to be not fine, and there’s going to be nothing I can do about that. One day you’re going to get shot, and you won’t have your vest on. One day you’ll get Sarin again, and there won’t be treatment on hand. One day you’re-“

“Who is being mister pessimistic now, huh, Steven?” Danny asks, raising an eyebrow. “What’s that Army motto of yours?” Steve blinks, looking confused.

“Are you meaning the Navy motto, the Marines motto, the Seal motto, or the actual Army motto?” he asks, genuinely confused.

“Uhm, I was meaning the Seals. But I guess any of them would work, right? Anyway. The only easy day was yesterday, partner.”

“Danny, what are you doing? You can’t use Seal stuff against me, that’s not fair.”

“All is fair in love and war, my friend.” Danny replies with a smile, not missing a beat.

“Stop.” Steve says, laughing. “Are you just quoting things at me, now?”

“Semper Fi, Steven.” Danny states, very seriously.

“Danny, no, stop.”

“And we can’t stop, and we won’t stop.”

“I’m leaving.” Steve says, climbing to his feet. “I’m going to be waiting in the Camaro. You can join me when you’re not quoting random things at me.”

“Semper Fortis.”

“Oh my God, Danny, stop it. That doesn’t even make sense in the context.” Steve complains, shaking his head as walks out of the warehouse, leaving Kono and Chin to help Danny to his feet.

“Mahalo nui loa, Danny.” Kono murmurs, as they help him up.

“Semper Paratus.”

“Danny, stop now.” Chin says, sighing. Danny chuckles, but doesn’t quote anything else.

“Mahalo, guys.” They hear Steve say through their ear pieces. Danny shares his smile with Kono and Chin.  Their little Ohana is going to be just fine, especially when Lou gets back from Chicago and beats them all upside the head for getting into a gunfight without him.


End file.
